Steam generating sadiron



March 7, 1944. R. I. HUFFMAN- STEAM GENERATING SADIRON 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed March 5, 1941 QM Q TAM m a E flfi QR .2 1 1 a +|Lw9 95 z V M 7 rm MN, 1% 1 1 1 w v mm 1% $1 1 A Q llk\ I QW w N Q. QM, NM. W 1 W TWWW WN A w 1 L MN Q 55 Qfi MN MN QL mw mm W N1 N w w v 1 QW w Q m 1 Patented Mar. 7, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STEAM GENERATING SADIRON Russell L Huffman, Dover, Ohio, assignor to Knapp-Monarch Comliiiany, St.- Louis, Mo., a

corporation of Misso Application March 5, 1941, Serial No. 381,871

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to a sad iron wherein steam is generated by electricity and discharged through steam emitting openings in I the lower surface of the sole plate.

' One object of the invention is to provide an 5 iron wherein a steam dome receives steam from a water chamber and transfers it to a steam chamber through a steam tube, the dome being with the steam dome.

A further object is to provide a relief valve for excess steam pressure which is located to project the steam forwardly at the front end of the iron so that it does not come in contact with the user's hand during ironing operations.

Still a further object is to provide a novel trap plate arrangement in the forward end of the iron to prevent splashing of the water into the steam dome and-to provide an opening in the trap plate through which a steam collecting tube -may extend.

Still a further object is to provide an eflective steam-tight joint between the steam delivery tube which joint is accessible through a removable plugoverlying it. 7

An additional object is to provide a thermostat with an operating knob located iust under the rear end of the handle for the iron, the handle itself serving to retain the adjusting knob in its assembled position. I 5

With these and other objects in view, my inven-. tion consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device whereby the objects contemplated are attained,

' as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Although the invention is susceptible of a variety of embodiments, it is unnecessary to fully describe and illustrate more than one in order to give a full understanding of the invention both from its structural and functionalstandpoints. Accordingly, I have illustrated a preferred and desirable embodiment of the in vention in the accompanying drawings. in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through a steam generating sad iron emb m my present invention;

F gure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, showing connection of the front end of the handle to the steam dome of the iron;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the A line 3-3 of Figure 1, showing the formation of the intake end of a steam delivery tube;

Figures 4 and 5 are horizontal sectional views on the lines 44 and 5-5, respectively, of Figure 1, and

line 6-,-6 thereof.

0n the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference character S to indicate a-sole plate and B to indicate in general a hollow-body. 'The 15 hollow body B is retained on the sole plate S by a hollow cap screw Ill at the forward end and a pair of screws I2 at the rear end. The cap screw l0 extends into a threaded boss l3 of the sole plate S and a gasket I4 is interposed between the my two to prevent steam leakage at this point.

The front portion of the body B constitutes a water chamber WC whilethe rear portion thereof constitutes a steam chamber SC.- 7 The chambers WC and SC are divided by a partition Steam is adapted to be generated in the water chamber WC by a heating element HIE consisting of a resistance wire 16 embedded in insulating fiatezrgal II in a groove IQ of a block of insula- 3 The steam enerated in the water chamber WC and a partition wall within the body of the iron,

passes through a quantity of brass wool orthe like 2| supported on a trap plate 22 and enters a steam dome 23. The trap plate 22 has a vertical flange 22a to retain the brass wool 2| in po- 35 sition. The steam dome 23 is threaded 'into the body Badjacent the front end thereof and the steam received therein is adapted to enter a steam tube 24 through perforations 25 thereof. The perforations 25, as shown in Figure 3, are

40 adjacent a closed upper end 26 of the tube 24.

The tube curves downwardly through a relatively large opening 21 in the trap plate 22 and then extends rearwardly through a fitting 28. The fitting 28 is threaded into the partition l5 and a 46 steam-tight joint is then provided by means of a bushing or ferrule 29 compressed around the tube 24 by a compression nut 30. A plug 39 in the fiack of the body B permits access to the nut so The opening 21 is adapted to receive a socket ll its rear end 'adiacent the top of the steam cham- Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view or; the Y ber SC within a threaded opening 32 thereof nicating with the manifold space 31. A handle a H is provided for my sad iron and it is connected at its forward end to the steam dome 23 by means of a pair of fin members 40 and 4|. The fin member 40 is directly secured to the handle H by a pair of screws", to which access is had through enlarged openings 43 of the fin 4|. The fins 40 and 41 are secured together in spaced relation by rivets 44 and washers 45, and the lower fin 4| is provided with a notch 46. The notch 46 is adapted to be hooked into an annular groove 41 of a headed element 48 on the top of the steam chamber 23.

The rear end of the handle H is secured by a single screw 49 to a fin plate 50. The fin plate 50 is secured by rivets SI and washers 52 to a pair of fin plates 53. The entire assembly of plates 50 and 53 is then secured to the top of the body B by a pair of screws 54 in a position overlying the closure plug 33. The fin plate 50 is provided witha pair of projections 55 to space the handle H from the plate. When the screw 49 is in position, it prevents disassembly of the notch 46 of the fin 4| from the steam dome 23.

At the rear end of the iron, a thermostat T is provided which includes a pair of contacts 56 in series with the heating element HE, in the usual manner, and a bimetal element 51 responsive to heat of the sole plate S and operable to engage an insulation element 51a and thereby depress the lower contact 56 to separate it from the upper one when a v predetermined temperature is reached. The setting of the thermostat T ma be adjusted by a screw threaded shaft 53 in the usual manner.

' The shaft 58 extends upwardly through an extension 58 from the rear end of the lower fin plate 53. extension has a stop lug 60 adapted to coast with a stop finger SI of an adjustin knob 62 for the shaft 53. Theknob 62 has a knurled bore coacting with a knurled upper end of the shaft 53 and is retained on the shaft by a tailpiece GS of the handle H overlying the knob.

At the forward end of the body B a boss 65 is provided, in which I mount a relief valve 64. The valve 64 is seated normally by a spring 86 against a seat 61 and the tension of the spring may be adjusted by a tubular set screw ii. The element 69 is a lock nut for the set screw 63. It will be noted that the relief valve 64 discharges in a forward direction whenever it is open.-

The steam generating sad iron herein disclosed has a number'of improved features when compared with the cop'ending applications of Stiller and Altman, Serial No. 251,209, filed January 16, 1939, now Patent No. 2,262,661, issued November 11, 1941, and Serial No. 342,132, filed June 24, 1940. Such features consist of the handle arrangement whereby fins at both the front and rear keep the handle relatively'cool and accordingly more comfortable to operate. The relief valve 64 discharges in a forward direction,-so that there is no dangerofthe operator's hand being burned while using the iron. The trap plate 22 is arranged'so that due to its construction, including the flange 22a, it will retain the cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope without sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

I claim as my invention: 1. In a steam iron, a sole plate having steam emission openings, means to heat said sole plate,

a hollow body superposed on said sole plate and constituting water and steam chambers, said water chamber being ahead of the steam chamber and having therein a trap plate extending in a substantially horizontal plane, said trap plate having a vertical flange extending upwardly from its rear edge, said trap plate having an opening, a first steam tube extending through a partition between said water and steam chambers, through said opening and upwardly, a steam dome enclosing the upper end of said steam tube, a second steam tube extending from the upper portion of said steam chamber to said steam emission openings, and a quantity of metallic wool on said trap plate and retained thereon by said flange and said steam dome, said metallic wool bridging the space between said first steam tube and the inner edge of said opening.

2. In a steam generating said iron of the character disclosed, a sole plate, a hollow body superposed thereon, water and steam chambers within the front and rear respectively of said body, a partition between said chambers, a steam dome for said water chamber, a trap plate therebelow having an enlarged opening therethrough a steam tube extending through said opening and having an intake end located in said steam dome and an outlet end mounted in said partition,

loose water trapping material on said trap plate surrounding the intake end of said steam tube and spanning the distance between said trap plate and said steam dome a second steam tube having an intake end terminating in said steam chamber adjacent the top thereof, steam emission openings in said sole plate communicating with the, other end of said second steam tube, and a heating element between the bottom wall of said body and-said sole plate.

3. In a. steam iron, a sole plate having steam emission openings, heating means for said sole plate, a hollow body superposed on said sole plate and constituting a-steam generating chamber, said chamber having therein a trap plate extending in a substantially horizontal plane, said supported on said trap plate, covering that portion of said opening around said steam tube and extending into said steam dome to terminate below the upper end of said steam tube therein.

RUSSELL I. HUFFMAN. 

